Community Outreach bus to be terminated

MINERAL COUNTY – As of Thursday, November 21, Mineral Community Hospital will no longer offer the Community Outreach bus as a way for residents to go to Superior.

According to John Updike, chief operating officer of MCH, the cost of operating the bus was too expensive for the number of passengers who rode it. He said the ridership never took off the way it needed to. After six months, it was determined the free service was not meeting the expectations to make it worth the cost.

“We gave it the old college try, if you want to put it that way,” Updike said.

While the bus averaged 50 to 60 riders per week, Updike said the numbers were deceiving. He explained how a person who used the bus for a round trip was counted twice, once for the trip in and once for the return trip. As a result, the rider numbers were often about half of what was reported. Updike said the principle ridership was in Superior with only a handful coming from Alberton, Haugan, Saltese and other towns.

According to Updike, the cost of fuel for the bus, as well as the driver’s salary, came to approximately $2,600 per month. With the amount of fuel consumed to make trips out to the east and west ends, where there would not always be riders, it became too expensive to operate the bus.

“We just can’t keep it going [at those costs],” said Updike. “It didn’t make sense to keep it going.”

The Community Outreach bus came from a federal grant MCH participated in and was provided by the state of Montana. The hospital put up approximately $12,000 for the grant. The service was started in late April of this year.

The original routes of the bus went to the west end, back out to Alberton and took passengers to Superior. Riders came to shop, visit doctors and other errands.

Updike said the ridership started slow, with sometimes only one or two people in a week, but improved over time. In October, the service was evaluated to determine whether it had met the expectations needed to continue.

MCH took a look at the various expenses of the hospital and evaluated each one with a focus on healthcare. The Community Outreach bus was deemed to be a good service, but unnecessary to the hospital’s mission and a drain on finances.

According to Updike, the bus will be returned to the state of Montana. The bus is in excellent condition, so it is likely it will be sent to people who have more of a need for it.

There are no current plans to bring the Community Outreach bus back at a later time. Updike said MCH is not sure how to handle the people who relied on the bus regularly, but pointed out most people do have other means of transportation.